FUNDAMENTALShttp://www.digitalcameraworld.com AUGUST 2019 DIGITAL CAMERA^81
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Add a Grad
In Develop, open the Graduated Filter by pressing M, or click
on the rectangle icon below the Histogram. Double-click the
Effect label near the top of the panel to reset all your sliders.
As light leaks are first and foremost about light, set your
Exposure reasonably high (three stops or more) and drag
in a small bit from the edge. The distance between the two
outer lines sets how quickly the filter goes from zero to
the full three stops extra. If you feel you need more light
and want to blow out the edges, which is something that
could easily happen in reality, increase Exposure some more.2
Tweak the colour
With the light effect applied, you now need to think about colour.
You have two options, and we’ll look at both. At the top of the
panel is White Balance, which controls Temperature and Tint.
Click New in Mask, and increase Temperature to about 75.
Drag a new filter over the old one, and bring it in a little bit
further. This adds colour to the edge, and also to your first
light leak. Use Tint to tweak the colour, or even change
Temperature as well. (I’ve gone for a Tint setting of 90.) Click
on the Color Swatch at the bottom to add a specific colour.
I’ve gone for Sat 86, Hue 11 for a more burnt orange.3
Add an organic feel
The leak is looking a bit uniform, and not organic enough at
present. To break it up, you can select the first filter by clicking
the associated pin. In Mask, change from Edit to Brush. Click
the Erase option in the Brush section, and increase the brush
Size and Feather. Brush out from the middle of the leak to
alter the shape. You can also use the steps so far to create
a different light leak from the other side. Press New in Mask
to begin. Include the Erase brush to alter the shape of
the new leak. For my image, I’ve gone for a narrower
strip going down the left-hand side.4
Fake a canister leak
Switch to the Radial Filter (the circle icon to the right of Grad,
or press Shift+M). Drag a long ellipse down from the top about
one third of the way in, and set it to only come a little way into
the photo. Make sure Invert is turned on. Add some colour
(as with step 2) for the Grad filter. Right-click on the pin and
choose Duplicate. Drag the pin to move your new filter. Using
one of the handles, make the duplicate smaller. You can play
with the Feather setting to change how sharp the edge is.
My first edge is a little sharper. You can, of course, make
as many or few variations and colours as you like.